The Guitar Refinishing and Restoration ForumThis discussion forum is hosted by The Guitar ReRanch and was created to serve those interested in the arcane art/science of guitar refinishing and restoration. Those with all levels of experience are welcomed to participate.

That is a decent price especially since the cabinet and speaker is included.
18 watt amps can sound really good.
THe few I have played allowed you to run the amp from your guitar.
That is they clean up when you turn down then crunch when you turn up.

What I found confusing is that the picture on the site shows a combo cab but the instructions show a head cab, unless I skipped something.
I would check into that since a combo and speaker is going to cost more than a head cab of course.
The instructions say it does not include speaker but the site description does.
So I would clear that up.

The other things to watch out for in kits is sub par quality parts but as I skimmed the parts list most looked adequate for this amp.
Things like caps, resistors, sockets, etc can make or break a kit if they are sub par._________________Tom

I built an 18-watt from parts. Having gone that route, I think kits are a great idea unless you want upgrades that aren't available in the kit. It saves a bunch of time and hassle looking up parts, ordering, and then forgetting the one cap you need to finish that the Shack doesn't have in stock. I hung out on 18watt.com and other amp forums for six months and read a couple of books before I tackled the build. Even then, I had to ask for some help along the way.

As far as tone goes, it's been my favorite amp for a year. At low volume, I may hit it with an OD or use my MiniMass to cut the volume. With 2 12s, it packs a lot of punch. I really love the cleans I get with my Strat, but it does run out of headroom above 5 on the volume. However, that's all part of the charm. It's warm and full, but packs a punch when you need it. I spend most of my time with the 18-watt and my Reason Bambino._________________John
I need more practice, not more gear.

I'm seriously considering building the combo. Still on the fence... I don't even like Marshalls but this one sounds nice to my ear. I think it would be a great recording amp at the very least.

One thing with the kits I've seen is they use the same chassis for the head and combo, so the tubes mount horizontally inside the combo and you have to pull the chassis to tinker with the tubes. I think I'd prefer them hanging vertically, Fender style, for convenience and heat dissipation. I see that GDS Amps offers a chassis for vertical tube mount.

Ain't that the truth... no resale value bugs me. I made out OK on my Ceriatone by trading it. Outright I would have lost at least half... and that's if I could get someone to bid on it.

Even on the reissues, there are things you need to look for. I know on the first run of Bluesbreakers, the cab wasn't deep enough to handle KT66 tubes! The second run was vintage correct and gets rave reviews.

But I'm confused why anyone would build one of these. There's a used Bluesbreaker down the road from my place in 9/10 condition for 1000 Cdn, which is probably 925-950 $US right now.

This isn't a Bluesbreaker; it's an 18-watt a.k.a. 1974x. They go for about $2200 new and $1600 on the used market. Vintage ones are unobtainable.

You can roll your own for well under a grand and feel free to tweak or mod the heck out of it without any concern of "devaluing" a name-brand collector piece, in addition to the enjoyment of actually building it.